Veritas
by TenchiSaWaDa
Summary: What is Truth? How do you find it? Naruto is about to find it out. He will use is Fists and the E.O.T.L. He will be with his friends as he conquers those who hunt him.
1. Beginning Thunder

**Veritas**

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**This is a story will be an expiriment like always. I have never really tried Naruto's younger years as a main arc but I will try my best.**

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Here we go

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What becomes of truth? Does it float in the wind like some kind of cloud? Does it stand still like a mountain? Or is it in everyone of us? Is Truth (Veritas) the binding force behind all action? But is it Stagnant? Is there only one Truth? But since that which is in the sense of being true or is not in the sense of being false, depends on combination and separation, and truth and falsity together depend on the allocation of a pair of contradictory judgements; for the true judgement affirms where the subject and predicate really are combined, and denies where they are separated, while the false judgement has the opposite of this allocation. What becomes of this is the justification of Truth? Whose truth is it or is the truth true or is false. It twists and curves into a never ending spiral.

Veritas becomes life and humans seek Veritas. What they must understand is that Veritas exists in them, and they only need to look inside themselves to see their true Veritas.

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Naruto (Age: 6)

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Naruto was at a stream over on the west side of Konoha. He was alone. He was always alone. The kids would stay away from him, because their parents told them to stay away from him. He was called a demon, a beast, an evil incarnate. He did not know why he was alive. Everyoen hated him, everyone would rather have him dead. What was this feeling? Despair, Lost hope? Yea, probably, he had gotten used to it over so long. It was a natural feeling like anger, like melancholy, like …

Today was his birthday. Or that was what he was told. That was what Ji-ji told him. If that was true. If that was the truth. What he did not understand was WHY? Why could he not understand the reason, the meaning behind the hate, the loathe, the fear. Why did they hate him? Why did the despise him? It was so infatuating, so depressing, so...

Naruto sat down at the river. He was alone. Or was he?

There was a rustle behind him. Naruto spun around, his eyes wide with fear. He ahd been attacked before, of course the Anbu had always guarded him, but that was in the city. He had camped out in the forest for a while to get some peace. Who was there? Would that person attack him?

"Uggh. Man oh man. It took me forever to get here"

Naruto blinked and raised his fists to be ready to defend himself.

A man in his 20's walked out. He had black, straight hair that came down like river. His eyes were a light-sh brown that you would see on a tree bark in the summer. His clothes were of the civilan type. He had a pale white, cotton shirt that was thin like paper. It revealed a strong body, even a pack of abs. His pants were of a light-sh blue kind, like the sky on a cloudy day. The man looked around and spotted Naruto. His face turned from relief to confusion. Then the man blinked and his face turned from confusion to amusement.

"Hey kid, what ya doing?"

Naruto blinked and yelped in surprise as he lost his balance. He had stepped back to gain distrance but forgot whre he was and landed straight in the river. He fell head first and knocked his head on an unforgiving rock.

"OI KID!"

**

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Later

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"Jeez, I come here to pray for my master and this is what I get? A Kid."

Naruto opened his eyes blearily. It was dark, or at least he could tell since the sky was dark. It was probably 11 or something like that. Naruto got up slowly.

"OI kid you okay."

Naruto looked over to see the guy, who had surprised him, tending a fire.

"I-i'm fine. Did.. you save me?" Naruto asked cautiously. Why would anyone save him? Why would anyone want to save the kid who was hated by the whole village?

"Yep you better worship me like Kami."

For some reason, in all his despair, in all his dead hope, Naruto found that line... funny.

"Heh he..." it started out as a small chuckle. And then "HAHAH THAT WAS SO STUPID!" A full blown laughter.

The man stood up, his hand on his hips, "OI BRAT I SAVED YOUR LIFE"

Naruto kept laughing so hard, his stomach hurt. "Sorry mister. But I haven't laughed ..."

Naruto stopped. When did he every laugh for real? When was it not a joke, or a pretending act?

The man noticed the shift in mood. "So... kid what are you doing out here."

Naruto blinked once more and turned to the man. Naruto shrugged. "Today is my Birthday."

The man blinked as well and scratched his head "Shouldn't you be celebrating or something. I mean with your friends and parents."

Naruto looked down. "I-i don't have any."

The man stopped, frozen. He knew he heard right. 'Well.. fuck.'

The man sighed and sat down next to Naruto. "hey kid, you look pretty well built for your age. You some kind of ninja or something"

Naruto shrugged. "I am in the academy... I wanted to train to become the Hokage... or at least I think I do."

The man debated. Was this … Fate? Coincidence? Chance? Or was this because of his Shishou? The man chuckled his master had always given him half assed explanations. 'I need to start training a disciple anyways. I'm getting old.' Yea though the man looked 24 he was actually 32. And people like him... never really lived long. They always had to pass on the scrolls at an early age and 'pretend' they still had it. Sure he was strong but strong enough to take all of those bastards... probably not.

The man patted Naruto on the back ."How about this then. Since its your birthday, I'll give you a present."

Naruto whipped his head so fast that the man was surprised. Well, The man was right next to naruto and his head was pretty close... so

**BAM**

"OUCH" They both cried in unison. Then they paused and looked at each other. They started to laugh, this coincidental meeting was too funny, too ridiculous, too... perfect.

The man turned around and brought a bag from the bushes. He set it down and started to dig through it. "Ah here it is."

Naruto ran over to the man and looked at his hand expectantly. This was … one of his first presents ever. He had received a present before but this was new. This was … unreal.

The man held up a scroll with a title on it. Naruto, who had taught himself to read, read it with some stumbling "E.O.T.L What is this?"

The man smirked "its a Techinique Guide, the full name is Enlightenment Of Thunder and Lightning"

Naruto scratched his head ."So... this is mine. But i'm not really good with techniques."

The man laughed. "Don't worry kid. I'll monitor your progress. So … here is how it'll go. For 3 days, before, during and after your birthday i'll train ya. And if your good enough i'll pass on some other stuff for _you_ to pass on."

Naruto nodded furiously. "Hai... uh Shishou."

The man smiled and nodded. ' I can't believe i'm doing this. But … I might as well get a disciple one of these days' "Alright then, since its your first time i'll guide you through basics."

Naruto nodded vigorously.

**

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4 months later

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Every day, without fail, after the Academy, Naruto would walk down to the stream where he had met his shishou to train. Naruto wanted to call the man that. Naruto believed the man deserved the respect. What he had learned was amazing, It was so amazing that it was beyond what he ever dreamed of, and Naruto had always dreamed big.

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Flashback

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"_ok brat lets start over here" his shishou called out. He was in the middle of the forest, surrounded by heavy trees. Naruto ran over to him, the scroll he was given in his hands. For his brithday, Naruto was taught he breathing technique. It was to develop his Ki usage. Now what was Ki. It was totally and absolutely not chakra that was for sure. Shishou had said that chakra was overused by ninjas and they forgot the other energies. What Naruto would be using was Ki, energy that came from the life force or endurance. Now unlike chakra, Ki was from the physical energy or endurance. The more you had you could get. That means if you recovered your breath faster or soothed you aching muscles faster you could recover Ki faster. Shishou had said that the amount of Ki you could get could be limitless but the only problem is, is that Ki also had different types of purities. Unlike chakra, it didn't matter how much Ki you had, it mattered how pure it is. If a person with higher purity of Ki went against a person who had lower purity, the higher person would be able to knock that guy out of the park.  
_

_But his shishou had told him not to disregard chakra, as it was still an asset. _

"_Alright brat, open the scroll and i'll show you something that will help you ya' train"_

_Naruto did so and found this really big circular thing. It had so many Kanji and symbols that naruto didn't know what it all meant. Naruto looked up towards his shishou expectantly. The man smiled "this is a temporal seal. It'll allow you to vision a 'world' where you can train. Of course it'll adapt to your surroundings."_

_Naruto scratched his head. "So... if I'm in a place it'll adapt to that too right?"_

_The man nodded. "Now place your hand on it and push chakra into it. Its for beginners who haven't developed Ki yet. So what are you waiting for push it in."_

_Naruto did so and then the world suddenly turned a high blue. "Whoa, Shishou everything is blue."_

_The man chuckled "That tells you, you are in the training world._

Naruto looked around and found his Shishou standing there, but the forest was now gone, instead there were big pillars with targets. There were several of them, where the trees had been. What the hell?

"_Shishou... uh whats with the targets."  
_

_the man chuckled once more, it was so funny to see a kid learning for the first time not knowing whtat he was getting into. "try striking one of the targets."  
_

_Naruto reared back his right hand and lunged forward. He was about to hit it when his hand was stopped a quarter of an inch from the target. "Eh?"  
_

_Naruto pulled back his and and then he punched even harder. But his hand was stopped once more. "What's going on?"_

_The man stepped next to another target and said ."What you have to do to punch these targets is strike it with Ki."  
_

_The man did a backfist and it knocked against the target with a resounding smack. Naruto eyes widened ."OH! But Shishou.. you never told me how to gather Ki"_

_The man sighed "uggh thats right. I keep forgeting you are totally new to the concept. Not to worry. Here is how it goes." _

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Flashback end

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Naruto entered the training world once more. He had learned from Shishou that the temporal seal skimpily made your body act a certain way. That means it restricted your body from doing certain things. Not only could you learn the moves and form, you could get a good workout from this. Naruto had wrapped his hand with a new roll of bandage tape. His style, or the E.O.T.L was a free forming style that involved speed and power, only blocking when absolutely necessary. Of course, Naruto had learned this from practice and rethinking about what he had learned.. Naruto got into his stance. One leg out in front, his right leg on the back, coiled ready to strike. His front hand curled into a fist, and his right hand open ready to block.

Naruto looked around slowly and saw a Blue target. Naruto charged forward and struck it, adding Ki to his fist. Drawing Ki was fairly second nature once you purified it enough. Drawing Ki simply was a the process of adding energy to your first, similar to how you clenched your fist to tense tense the muscles. The blue target turned grey and suddenly a pole errupted from the pillar he just struck, aiming to smash naruto's ribs. Naruto brought his left arm down, blocking the pole to stop the strike. Naruto felt the impact but it didn't hurt as much since he added Ki to block it.

One thing that the scroll also did was to add attackers. Poles, ropes or even an occasional boulder to mix things up. The seal basically adapted to how Naruto was feeling. If he was feeling pretty good, than Naruto would be beat up to hell. If he was feeling pretty bad, then the scroll would focus on striking. Naruto didn't know how it worked but for some reason the strikes felt real, and they would hurt a hell of a lot more if he didn't add Ki to his limbs to block.

Naruto moved over to the next blue target and struck, then blocked, struck several times and then blocked a couple more. It was a process that was random and exhilarating. Naruto was only adding Ki to his punches since his master had not deemed him ready to start the actual style. Better to get the feel to the fighting style of E.O.T.L and then incorporate the actual techniques than to shove it all at a 6 year old.

Sadly enough, it only took an hour and a half to wear Naruto down. The constant striking and blocking really hurt. But this was a big improvement of what he could do before. In the first month he could only last about half an hour and he would get all the time. Now he was blocking pretty well, though there would be an occasional smack on the head or body. Naruto walked away from the pillars and ended the Temporal seal by pushing Ki into the scroll. He had moved on from the beginner temporal seal and was now using a more advanced one. It required Ki use at all times and when Naruto started to develop KI, the seal would demand even more... (or thats how Naruto thought of it). Naruto stretched his body and then walked over to the river, taking the scroll with him. Naruto sat down, where he was taught by his Shishou on the breathing method. Naruto sat down and opened the scroll once more. There was another seal, before the temporal seal. Naruto really wondered where the heck did his Shishou get all this stuff made. And there was a storage seal. Naruto pushed chakra into it and out came a purifier. Now what would you do with a purifier? Simple, to reproduce the image of Purifying Ki. Naruto sat down on his knees and put his hands into a position that his Shishou taught him. 'Stimulate the Ki in your body, then let it flow down through the purifier. Stimulate the Ki in your body, then let it flow down through the purifier. Stimulate the Ki …'

Naruto would do this for 2 hours, as he would get distracted from the purifying thus causing the breathing method would become ineffective. Naruto sealed up the purifier and rolled up the scroll. He would definetly show progress to his shishou.

**

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Later (Naruto, One day before birthday)

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Naruto ran down a towards the river. Today, Shishou would be coming back. He had anticipated this day so much, he couldn't wait to see Shishou's face when he showed him what he could do.

Naruto ran so fast that as he went past a bush, he tripped over a rock and slammed right on his face.

"Hey brat, watch where you're going, I don't want you falling in that river again."

Naruto looked up and smiled. His shisout was here. "Sorry Shishou. I was excited."

The man smiled. "Come on lets see what you got."

That day, Naruto showed him his progress. He activated the seal and started smashing the targets with noticeable ease.

The man blinked. 'This is... farther than I expected. I had thought he would barely practice this but he is... He must have practiced every day.' The man smiled... this was a truly good disciple. "Thats enough , Naruto."

Naruto stopped and deactivated the Temporal seal. Naruto looked at his Shishou expectantly "So... how was it Shishou."

The man ruffled Naruto's hair. "Not bad kid. Now then, I think you are ready to start manipulating."

Naruto turned his head. "Eh?"

And so, for the rest of the day, Naruto learned to manipulate Ki into combat energy, specifically Lightening. His shishou had explained very strictly that:

One. Lightening was a stunning element and could be very dangerous

Two. Never go beyond what he told him to, if he did than he would disown him as his disciple

Three. the art relies on having a very refined and pure Ki. That meant Naruto had to use the breathing excercises every day (Even if he was doing that already, that spurred on Narto to go for even longer)

Four. The art takes Yin Ki and Yang Ki and turns them into negative and positive charges which are then collided. (His Shishou went into a long explanation on how to turn the Ki into positive and Negative charges. But this was a necessary thing)

For that whole day they worked on practicing creating positive and Negative charges. It was long, arduous but Naruto showed progress. Much faster than the man had intended. The man had theorized that Naruto would only be able to go through creating positive and Negative charges by the end of the three days. But he had learned and conquered the technique in only 18 hours. That was a feat indeed.

The man looked as the boy ate dinner, fish and some rice. This boy … he could possibly be the next holder of lost techniques. Of course then he would need companions to guide him but that was much later. "hey kid"

Naruto was in the middle of chowing down on some fish, when he looked up, so Naruto was chomping on a fish head while looking at his Shishou.

The man shook his head at the silliness. "When you are on your own again, go to the third seal. This time when you do it, use the Lightening Fist in _all_ your strikes."

Naruto's eyes widened. "EH!"

The lightening fist was a mix of positive and negative charges in his fist and collides them, creating lightning, also it has a neat little stun effect. But Naruto had just learned it, and he had been only been able to pull it off twice!

Naruto swallowed his fish and said, voice mixed with disbelief. "But Shishou I can barely do the lightening Fist."

Shishou shrugged. "Meh, And when your down move onto the fourth one, using only thunder Break."

Naruto dropped his bowl. He knew that he would be getting a work load but this was too much. Thunder break was the exact opposite of lightening fist. It involved charging your fist with complete negative charge. Now usually if a person would charge chakra/Ki (it didn't matter which one) into their bodies or somewhere else to block a strike, Thunder break would discharge creating a huge amount of positive energy or electricity. Now it didn't have to be just that, Thunder break could work in the absence of any charge and create positive charge anyways. (though it wasn't as strong).

"S-Shishou... I know you have high expectation but I can't even do the thunder break..."

The man shrugged. "Then practice. I have expectations yes but..." Shishou looked at him dead in the eye. "I know you can accomplish them."

Naruto's eyes widened. Here it was, someone in front of him was acknowledging him. Naruto bowed his head, "H-hai Shishou... I will live up to your expectations." Shishou patted him on the head. "I know you will. Tommorrow I will take you through the style briefly and then we can start practicing your defensive moves."

Naruto nodded vigorously "Hai."

And so Naruto got into a sleeping bag he brought and drifted off to sleep. The man put out the fire and watched Naruto. 'I wonder... I was about his age when I started but this kid. He had more potential than me. Damn, I wish I could take him with me but,' The man looked out toward the sky. 'Its too dangerous. Even with my skills I don't think I can protect him.'

The man clenched his fists, lightening crackled around it. 'But I sure as hell will teach him everything I know.'

**

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The next day

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"Wakey wakey, Birthday boy."

Naruto jolted up and looked around. Oh yea, that was right he was training with Shishou. Naruto turned to see his Shishou stetching his body. "OK brat, Come on we got to take you through some moves."

Naruto jolted up and nodded. "Yes sir!"

The man chuckled, 'I wonder if I was that happy. Maybe I was.' The man lead Naruto into the forest to train. He instructed naruto "We'll go through this for an hour or so, and then we'll eat and start with some defensive moves."

**

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**

16 hours later

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Naruto sat down on his butt panting. The defensive moves were really hard. Naruto hadn't even gotten a single one down and he had barely escaped a Lightening fist from his Shishou. "Danget I can't get any of this."

Shishou chuckled "Hey now, it took me a while to do this too."

Naruto looked up, eager to hear more. "neh, Shishou who taught you?"

The man laughed harder ."Ah, it was my uncle. He was a living down near the border of Kumo. Never really wanted to be a Ninja, well its tradition that we keep to ourselves. I, uh, decided to be a little rebellious and go out a bit." 'he's too young to understand.' The man thought with some mirth.

Naruto nodded "oh, well Shishou, what are we going to do next?"

The man shook his head. "Relax, its your birthday kid, Shouldn't you be demanding a break or anything."

Naruto shook his head really hard. "NO! This is probably the best days of the year, I never really had this much fun anyti-" Naruto mumbled the rest out.

The man blinked 'what the... huh this needs some investigating.' "Hey kid, let me get something, stay right here and wipe yourself down." Shishou threw a towel at him. Naruto proceeded to wipe the sweat off his face, arms and back. He heard foosteps and Naruto turned around to see his shishou hiding something behind his back.

Naruto blinked "Shishou what are you- oof"

naruto was hit by something. Naruto pushed it off his face and looked at what was in his lap. It was clothes. A white shirt with the Kanji thunder on it. A stylish jacket, that looked like a dark green vest excpet the hoodie and the arms were Grey. There were several pouches and loops for scrolls and kuanis or whatever naruto wanted to put in there. The pants were a navy blue. It felt really tough but flexible at the same time, it also had several loops for kunais and such. Naruto blinked... was Shishou giving this to him.

"Well kid try it on."

Naruto blinked again, his Shishou was giving him a present. A present on his birthday. Just being and learning from his Shishou was enough to make him happy. You could say that his Shishou was his only friend. But this was a present he had never expected. A true gift not out of pity or anything like that. Naruto started to tear up.

"OI, kid you okay, do you not like it?"

Naruto threw down the clothes and lunged at his Shishou. The man was caught off guard as Naruto wrapped his arms around his waist and started crying. The man heard the muffled sound of "Thank you," Over and over again. The man's face changed from shock to soothing comfort. He placed his hand on Naruto's hair and ruffled it just like an older brother. "Its all good kid. Now try it on, I want to see how it looks on you."

Naruto stepped back and rubbed his face to dry the tears, all the while nodding.

He tried it on and showed his shishou. The man nodded. "Its a bit baggy but you'll grow into it."

Naruto smiled "Thank you Shishou."

The man smiled back and then blinked "Oh I forgot." His shishou pulled out another scroll and put Ki into it. And out came... something Naruto had never received before.

A birthday cake.

Naruto started to tear up again.

"HEY HEY KID STOP CRYING I DON't want Jeez-" The man softened. As Naruto rubbed his face and nodded. "T-thank you Shishou"

Naruto sat down in front of the cake. And His shishou sat down and started cutting it, all the while singing happy birthday. When he had finished, Naruto couldn't hold it anymore, he burst into tears once more.

**

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**

5 months later (Naruto age: 7)

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"AAAAH!" Naruto yelled as he struck the tree. As he struck the target, lightening crackled from his fist searing the tree. Naruto then brought up his left hand and did a punishing hook, also using the lightening fist. He then proceeded to pulverize the targets with lightening fist. When he stepped back and deactivated the seal, the tree now was decorated with smocking, black spots. Naruto smiled at his success. Before he would have only made a small scratch against the tree trunk. He was finally getting somewhere. Naruto relaxed himself as he settled down to start his breathing method.

"WOAh that was amazing!"

Naruto spun around to see a kid, maybe about a year older than him, standing there staring at him. Naruto cursed under breath for being spied on. The kid noticed his angry demeanor and immediately tried to placate Naruto. "I am sorry for distrubing you but I was practicing nearby and I heard your training. It is really amazing what you can do."

Naruto blushed and nodded in thanks "I'm still not that good." Though he still did not trust the person in front of him, it was nice to get praise.

The boy gave him a thumbs up "Don't worry i'm sure you'll get better."

Naruto grinned and said "Thanks uh... well we haven't introduce ourselves yet have we heh heh." Better to get to know this person more, and see if he would tattle on him.

The boy realized this also and started to laugh as well. "I'll go first then. My name is Rock Lee, My age is 8, I cannot use any Ninjutsu or Genjutsu because I have special disorder that makes me unable to use it. My goal is to become a great nin even without chakra."

Naruto blinked, this guy couldn't use chakra. This guy still wanted to become a ninja? But in this world, that would be ridiculous, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu was the bread and butter for Ninja, he could use it well, albeit he couldn't do a bunshin, but he could still do it. Naruto looked up to see that Lee was looking at him expectantly. Naruto scratched his head. "Um... I am Naruto Uzumaki, I am 7 years old, uh... I am currently learning E.O.T.L. And I am want to be as proficient in it as my master." it couldn't hurt to tell this guy about shishou right?

Lee smiled "Is that what you were practicing? This E.O.T.L?"

Realizing Lee didn't know what E.O.T.L Naruto explained " E.O.T.L stand for Enlightenment of Thunder and Lightening. Its a taijutsu style that relies on Ki, instead of chakra. Umm... it transfers Ki into combat energy in which the user is able to uh... make lightening." 'I think that was how shishou explained it.'

Lee blinked. He understood that it was a taijutsu style but "What is Ki, Naruto-kun"

Naruto blinked at the honorific but then continued. "Ki is a energy force of endurance. The more endurance you have the more Ki you have and the faster you can recover."

Lee's eyes widened. "So does that mean _I_ could learn it!"

Naruto scratched his head. "Uh... I think so."

Lee ran forward and grabbed Naruto's hands "PLEASE TEACH ME!"

Naruto scratched his head and noddd. "ok..." ' I guess I could show him the breathing method and the beginner scroll. I mean it'll help him. But i'll have to show him how to put in Ki first before he can use it.' Every time his shishou would give him something, he would store it away for safe keeping. He stored it under his bed, in a cardboard box, under the floor, and it surrounded by several pieces of metal he had scavanged from the dumpster to protect it.

Naruto the went into the long and arduous process of explaining the method of Ki and how to develop it. Lee set out right away while Naruto got the scrolls.

Over the next few months, Lee would master the usage of Ki, with the help Naruto. He was now in the process of gathering and purifying his Ki. Plus he made a great sparing partner with Naruto. This was refreshing to naruto because it didn't mean he have to be struck at poles every time. Naruto found that Lee was extremely fast and was quite challenging to hit. His method were a bit simple, attack first then wait to counter. His movements though were quite unpredictable. Naruto enjoyed the rush of creating new ways to break past Lee's guard and the constant nerve of guessing what Lee would do to go against him.

Also in this time, Naruto would come to master the Lightening Fist and Thunder Break.

**

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**

Academy

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Iruka watched as he the kids started to file into class. They would talk among themselves. But Iruka noticed a pair in particular. Rock Lee and Naruto Uzumaki. They would talk about their spars... it wasn't uncommon to see kids talk about their spars. Well, Iruka actually commended it, though not out loud. Talking to one another about how to improve is a good thing, and having after school spars is quite amazing for academy students. Most kids would just groan and complain about sparring here but these kids were dedicating themselves. You don't see that a lot anymore. But what caught Iruka's eye was the strangeness of the pair.

A Kid who couldn't use chara and the Kyuubi Jinchu-... ah he was doing it again. He was labeling Naruto as a person who wasn't human. Dammit, he swore that he wouldn't do that. The class clown, yea that was a better label for him. Well, one thing that did make them similar was that both were orphans. Iruka sighed, he had listened into on a couple of their discussions. They were talking excitably about a counter, or something like that, that Lee had used in one of their spars. Naruto had said that it was amazing wanted to know how he came up with that. Then Lee went into a great discussion on Naruto's 'tendencies' during his fight. And they would branch off from there.

But one thing was unsettling though, at times Naruto would talk about a person who told him something or a technique that Iruka had never heard of. He was pretty unsettled with that fact. What if it was the Kyuubi's influence. Iruka couldn't just pretend it didn't exist, that was forced ignorance. A good Shinobi was always accepted every possibility. Iruka sighed once more, at least Naruto had a friend now.

**

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**

Before Naruto's birthday

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It was the day before his Birthday once more. Lee and him and come along way. Naruto wanted to introduce Lee to Shishou but Naruto wasn't sure if Shishou would take it well if he had taught someone Ki... Shishou did say that Ki was a pretty well kept secret. Naruto ran towards the river, careful not to trip over anything. And sitting on the pond next to a raised tent was Shishou.

"Shishou!" Naruto called out waving, all the while hurtling towards him.

The man turned around and smiled "Hey brat, how ya doing?"

Naruto smiled wide. "Great Shishou, I completed the Lightening Fist and Thunder Break like you said"

The man smirked. 'Just as I expected this kid has far more talent than I do... this will be . This could be the last Scroll carrier. If he can destroy the bastards... than he could pass it on evenly.' Then the man noticed something about Naruto. He looked nervous as if wanting to say something... no Naruto did want to say something.

"What's up kid?" The man asked with concern

Naruto jolted and fidgeted a bit. "Well... Shishou... I was practicing and I kinda... was spotted by another kid my age."

The man raised an eye brow 'huh... wonder what-'

"and-he-couldn't-use-any-chakra-so-I-Taught-him-how-to-use-Ki" Naruto said extremely fast.

The man blinked... and then blinked again. Then he started to chuckle and then started to laugh hard. Naruto blinked and scratched the back of his head nervously. Shishou stopped laughing and patted Naruto on the head. "It's ok kid. But I'm surprised you actually taught someone to use Ki. That's pretty good." 'Passed my expectations _again'_

The man got up and looked around. "So is he around here. If he uses Ki then I should probably see how proficient he is."

Naruto nodded vigorously. "Yea, follow me." Naruto turned around and started to walk towards the spot where he and Lee always were. Naruto started to tell Shishou of all the things he did with Lee, all the sparing the techniques they developed. Each time Naruto told a story, the man was getting more and more sure. 'He is already gathering a team without knowing it... he has to be the one... Shishou' The man thought with some humor 'You're always guiding me even in the grave'

Naruto approached the sparring area, or the area where they would use the trees as target practice. Lee was there in his light blue Gi top, smacking away at trees, enforcing Ki into his hands.

The man blinked... the kid was using it Naturally. That was far beyond someone who was self taught. That came with the natural talent of a prodigy. "Naruto... call him over here."

Naruto nodded "LEE! Shishou IS HERE!"

Lee stopped in mid swing and turned to Naruto and waved. Then he saw Shishou and ran over. He came with in 3 foot and the bowed, waist down. "It's an honor to meet you"

The man waved his hand . "Maa maa, don't get me embarrassed now. Hmm... I want to see _both_ capabilites...I haven't seen Naruto in a while and I want to see yours so I can choose a style for you too."

Lee smiled and turned to Naruto giving him the thumbs up. "you were right Naruto-kun"

Naruto nodded back. "Yea, I Told you Shishou was cool!"

The man chuckled at the compliment and said. "Spar each other, go light so we can continue training afterwords."

The man watched with amazing scrutiny. He analyzed each of their movements and broke down the mistakes, habits and preferences. He mainly kept tabs on Lee, since Lee was new to him. But He also took tabs on Naruto, seeing how incorporated Ki. 'I think Naruto is ready for the Lightening steps. But we'll see. Now then Lee on the other hand.' As he watched Lee do a very interesing counter by grabbing the wrist and pushing it to the side. 'Lee definitely fits that category.' the man chuckled 'Damn, I'd thought Naruto would have gotten some random kid but this guy... this guy is something else. He is on Naruto's growth level for sure. ' the man had struck gold coming here. And now his gold was doubling itself in many ways. "OK that's enough you two." Both of them stopped and turned to Shishou. The man waved them over and they obeyed. When they approached, a scroll appeared in their hands.

The man yawned and stretched his back as he stood up. "Those scrolls are for you to study. Lee you have a very good style that focuses on the Physical art, but uses Key to counter ALL things incluiding chakra based attacks and genjutsu. You will have to break it down and learn it well, I will help you understand the art but I can't help you fully... I was never taught it myself either."

Lee nodded vigorously, and said "Thank you … Shishou"

Naruto smiled and looked at his own scroll. "Lightening steps?"

The man nodded. "Its the foot work for the E.O.T.L. It'll be what you will be learning for the next year along with Lightening Yo-yo and Heaven Exlopde. Don't start it now... we need to work on those defenses. "

Naruto groaned. And the man laughed at Naruto's annoyance. "now now, don't complain."

Lee read the title on his scroll. "Northern board strike..."

**

* * *

**

7 months later

* * *

"YOU HAVEN'T GOTTTEN ME YET!" Naruto called out as he lashed out with a lightening Fist. Lee raised his right arm and blocked Naruto's fist. Now normally the lightening fist would discharge causing a huge energy shock onto Lee's arm but Lee had learned to create a highly positive charge. This canceled out the energy in Naruto's arm. Naruto smirked as he brought up his left arm. "TRY THIS!"

Lee was about to block the arm but realized something. Why would Naruto throw another Lightening Fist. Lee came to one conclusion. It had to be a lightening Break. Instead of blocking it, Lee Grabbed his wrist and used the Northern Board Strike's method. By rotating the energy through his hand and then around towards Naruto's hand, Lee was able to not only discharge the energy but shock Naruto. Naruto lept back as he felt the energy shock him. 'Damn... he already mastered that' Naruto cursed as he saw the success written all over Lee's face.

Naruto's hand was still being shocked by lightening so he had to care of it first. Naruto lifted up his left arm and the swung it. He used Ki to push out the blocked Ki from his arm and discharge it in a flash of lightening outside his arm. Naruto prepared himself to guard because he had lost time discharging the shock. Lee had chaged at him, with the intent to rush. But Naruto was prepared for him. Naruto's right hand was actually charging a certain move. Naruto stepped forward, rearing his hand back. His hand was covered with tightly compacted electricity. Naruto punched forward with all his might, discharging the electricity. A huge explosion ripped through the air and tendrils of electricity spun every which way. Lee jumped back to avoid being electrocuted. Naruto smirked at his success. It seems he was capable of controlling the Heaven Explode after all. The Heaven explode was actually like a shotgun technique. It spread itself and wasn't as strong from a distance. It was hard to dodge up close but if you were ever hit up close you would certainly but hurt like hell. Naruto tilted his head and then sighed. "That's enough for today Lee."

Lee nodded and walked over a pair of large rocks that he and Naruto always sat on to discuss their techniques. They would spar against each others' styles and help each other grow. Shishou had said that the styles were free forming, that meant they did not follow a set pattern. That meant adapatation, growth and development was the key. And as for Ki, they constantly purified everyday afterwords. Naruto still wasn't any good at the bunshin but he did get the Henge, Kawamari down pretty well. But he swore to not use it in his fights between Lee. He also handicapped himself to not using the fifth level of the Lightening steps (which he was almost getting down).

There were Five levels to the lightening steps. And as they were dubbed, they were as fast as lightening or at least when one mastered them (which Naruto was far from). He had practiced them for a while with Shishou. The element was all in the ankles. What you had to do was strengthen your ankles with Ki, similar to how you do wit Chakra, but with Ki, you didn't have to worry about constantly holding it. You just needed to place it there and let it run, Ki follows Ki. And as long as you didn't run out of Ki, or let it fade your speed would increase dramatically. But many or well probably everyone who used Ki only used Lightening steps for a short while. It took a tremendous amount of Ki but the results were wll worth it.

The five levels were:

Jin: It is the fast sprint forward which allows you to draw close to your opponent and attack. Its harder than a simple charge because it doesn't follow a bee line, you have to follow the path the electricity sets out for you. Yes the electricity does give a path, it actually follows where the path has the most metal. Because the technique relies on following the metal and using it a a magnetic force to push off and guide yourself to. So Naruto spent a lot of time trying to sense it. The only problem is that sensing metal during afight was really hard and Naruto wasn't ready yet to do it.

The next one was just the opposite.

Tweh- Which allows you to retreat. It follows the same path of the magnetic force. Following it so that the Ki and electricity you build up in your leges can follow the path.

Jin and Tweh were the bread and butter of the Foot techniques. They allowed Naruto to jump through Lee's punch and get away from any counter. Sadly, like explained before, Naruto's concentration and sensing wasn't good enough to do it efficiently.

The next to came even harder to Naruto.

Hweh- this one was more of a stealth technique. It was literally dragging yourself towards another area with high concentration of metal. By putting a highly magnatized charge on your foot, as soon as you push off the ground and let the magnetic power run free, you would be dragged somewhere so fast that you left behind an after image. If completed successfully, no one would no where you were. And of course this had its downside because if the highest metal concentration was right next to you... well you wouldn't go anywhere. But his shishou said that Hweh wasn't really used much since it was usually for distractions or super escapes (escapes where Tweh wasn't enough)

The second to last one was Gyuk- This was a kicking technique. Now, this was the only kicking technique since E.O.T.L users liked to use their fists to fight. It was actually more versatile than you woud think. It involved adding Ki not only to your ankle but to your thigh. From here you would be able to kick and discharge a small electical field that would shock the opponent. It was actually pretty weak because the concentration of the Ki was less than a lightening fist but it was good to catch an opponent off guard.

The final one was

Hwan- It was the ultimate level of the Lightening steps. It would literally allow you to make after images of your clone. You not only added it your body but to your whole entire body. You would move so fast to leave after images that looked like real solid clones. Naruto had yet to accomplish this one, and even if he did he would not use it against Lee because lee wasn't at his level (but Naruto was sure he would catch up soon enough.) Lee was a lot faster than him but overall their physical strength was the same. Lee wasn't still practiced in his martial arts but his mastery over the first few sections of the style was getting there.

The Northern board strike mainly consisted of a recirculation of Ki to block the opponents power. Now how does this affect Chakra? Since Ki and Chakra are essentially energy, Ki should be able to influence chakra just like how Thunder break could react with chakra. Naruto had tried attacking with just chakra enhanced punch. When Lee had blocked it and used the Northern board strike's method of canceling the energy, The chakra circulated and even shocked Naruto to a very hard degree. Naruto's arm was quite numb afterward and both of them were satisfied with the results.

If you compared Lee and Naruto you would fine some key differences. For one thing Lee had a much better defense. Naruto still didn't understand how to to do the defenses properly and his Shishou was bordering on giving up. Shishou had even admitted to Naruto that he had never really used the defenses that often but it was still worth knowing in case you were in a pinch.

Naruto took out his scroll, which explained the E.O.T.L techniques and Lee took out his scroll. The spent the rest of the day purifying and gathering Ki and discussing the next steps in their art.

Over the next few years till Naruto was 11, Shishou had trained Lee and Naruto both. But there was something special on the Naruto's Eleventh birthday.

Naruto struck quckly at Lee's guard. Lee wove around the punches, trying to get a hand on his wrist so he could cause damage. Lee was too fast to hit but Naruto was just too practiced to be caught. They were both equally matched.

The man who had taught Naruto and lee for many years watched them too battle with some pride. Who wouldn't be? He had trained this kids from scratch and now they were going at it like pros. He had never seen such potential in anyone else. 'I … I think its time to pass on the scrolls then.'

The man called out "HEY GUYS STOP! I HAVE SOME STUFF TO TALK ABOUT!"

his students immediatel stopped and ran over to their Shishou.

"Hai Shishou," Naruto said.

The man sat down and motioned for them to do the same. The man had brought a knapsackalong with him. The man sighed and ran his hand through his hair... there was never an easy way to say this.

"both of you have gotten closer to mastering your art, Naruto you are already starting the long range strikes which is mazing for your age."

Naruto blushed at the compliment and bowed his head.

"Lee your natural take to the northern Board strike is far beyond what I could ever do."

Lee gave a huge smile and nodded.

"That is why I can't teach you anymore."

there was a silence. After all these years, they had known this man, they had come to trust him. They had come to trust that this man spoke the truth, would help them when needed. But they had never expected this.

"S-shishou... w-what are you saying." Naruto asked shakily. His voice cracking as he spoke.

The man sighed. "You have gotten to the point where you can master the art without my help. I am going to entrust you with something."

The man took his knapsack and handed it towards Naruto. Naruto accepted it, his hand as shaky as his voice, and his stomach churning like a whirlpool. This was too much.

"This knapsack, contians all the scrolls of the martial arts I have collected over the years. Naruto... Lee... I am giving you a warning."

Naruto and Lee looked at their master intently.

"This bag can only be open with KI so keep it guarded don't let anyone but you two and people who you trust with your life touch it or even go near it. Poeple will come for these scrolls. These styles are not something you can just find out of a library, these are lost styles. I want you and Lee and one more person if you can find one, to protect these scrolls. Pass it on once its necessary.

Naruto nodded slowly, acepting the duty he was given, but he still was peeved ."then Shishou, wouldn't we be safer with you?"

The man gavea bitter chuckle ."I would but the people after this are strong... if I fought them one on one I would be alright. But these guys fight in pairs and wouldn't hesitate to gang up on me. That's why I said to take a group of three just in case."

Nartu nodded ."B-but Shishou... I-"

The man placed his hand on Naruto's head. "I know Naruto... but I you are strong. If I am alive after all this maybe we will meet again. You too, Lee"

Lee who was listening in silence, was depressed. Just like Naruto, He saw this man as an older brother or even a father figure. He was strong, kind and always hleped them. To see him go so suddenly, it wasn't right.

Lee than spoke up. "Shishou now that you are l-leaving, what should we do with our styles? I mean our styles aren't found in everday things like you said... I was wondering if we could still use them."

The man nodded. "Yea, I'd knew you'd ask about that. It really doesn't matter whether you use it or not. No one can question your strength. BUT... there is something I need you to do. Do not just randomly teach people things out of the scroll. These scrolls are near sacred to many other people and showing it off is treating everything I taught you as trash. ."

Naruto and Lee nodded solemnly.

The man stood up. "Well... I must be of. I hope I will see you again."

The man started to walk when Naruto called out. "Shishou..."

the man turned and nodded. "Yea?"

Naruto blushed and said "W-what is your name?"

The funny thing aout it was that even after all these years they had never learn his name. Quite funny really, But now Naruto wanted to know.

The man smiled and said "Ma Gyorunming."

Naruto and Lee bowed to him. "Thank you Shishou for everything." They said in unison.

Gyorunming laughed and nodded, and walked away.

That was the last time they ever saw him.

**

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**

And there is the pilot chapter. I hope you like it!

If you have any suggestions on how I can improve please review.


	2. team Gai Assembles

**Veritas 2**

* * *

**Naruto**

* * *

Naruto walked into the Academy at 8:50 sharp. He did it every day. Class started at 8:55 and Naruto would always come in the same time. Why? Well, because Naruto was making a point. One of the teachers said that since he was always late that Naruto didnt care about being a Ninja. So, Naruto decided to come at the same exact time just to piss off the teacher. Of course that meant listening to an extra 30 or 40 minutes of droaning from teachers but Naruto dind't care. He had stuff to pass the time.

When Naruto entered, he was surprised to see it a bit more filled than usual. Naruto shrugged, it was getting closer and clsoer to graduation exam. Naruto walked over to his regular spot, next to Lee.

"Yo, Lee, what's up?"

Lee smiled and replied energetically, "Pretty good, We an spar after school today."

Naruto sat down and nodded. "Yea, I a gonna hve to start using lightening steps on you."

Lee nodded and then thoguht for a moment. "Well I finally got the Ninth attack flow down so I'll try to use it on you."

Naruto graoned. "I hate when you do that. It hurts to push out the Ki on my own."

Lee smirked. "heh, its not that bad as your lightening fist."

Naruto shrugged. "E.O.T.L is meant to be 'shocking'"

Lee nodded and then stoped as he saw another occupant enter the room. The newcomer was the prodigy of the lass, Neji Hyuuga. Naruto looked over to Lee and then back to Neji. Naruto laid his head down in his arm and mumbled. "Why did you lose to him again?"

Lee shrugged. "I didn't want to use Northern board strike just yet... not when I haven't perfected it yet, Why haven't you been using it?"

Naruto gave a long sigh and graoned. "Would cause a hassle if revealed."

Lee nodded. "Hai, Shishou did say that Ki was not well known."

then the door opened again and another person came through. Naruto looked up, his eyes widening. "eh? What is the Uchiha doing here? I thought he was a year behind us."

Lee scratched his head. "I wonder as well, but maybe he was moved up. I heard he was considered a prodigy in the school"

Naruto groaned once more. "We already have a prodigy, I don't thin kthis class can take two emo, attention hogging prodigies."

Lee sighed and patted Naruto on the back. "its alright, Lets just get ready for class."

Naruto nodded and reached in his poket and puled out a small tube. He placed the tube on his desk infront of him like always. He then straightened his back and looked down, so that he was looking at the tube. Though to everyone else it looked like he was paying very good attention. Lee did the same thing. The classes now were actually based off of chakra techniques. Lee, not being able to use chakra, decided to use something ot pass the time. Naruto cam up with an idea to make a miniature water filter composed of some trinkets. Naruto built two because, Naruto as well, was very bored of the lectures . So they opted to do the breathing exercises through the miniature purifiers.

After the lectures, the calss would be led outside for some field practice. Naruto and Lee would seriously practice on their weapons, as they were never gd at using thm. Though they did have some helpfrom their fellow weapon's mistress who Naruto and Lee ahad taking a real liking to. She was very nice and knew to have fun. On the plus side too, she didn't treat Naruto like all the other kids and she took the time to get to know Naruto. Anyways, Naruto and Lee struggeld to get proficiency in weapons but if it came to a real fight, Naruto and Lee knew that they would use their styles to cursh the opponents. If Naruto had to judge their srength right now... they were definetly beyond gennin level Naruto wasn't tooting his own horn but he had seen some gennins sparring and Naruto could easily follow teir movements nad see the flaws and openings they had. That was one thing but the other thing is that they moved like shit, they were sloppy, unoriginal and would become cannon fodder if they didn't shape up.

After that, it would come to he most dreary part of the day, sparring. They would have two people get up on a dirt stage and fight each other. Almost everything was allowed but no B rank jutsus. This was a handicap to make sure that kids didn't kill each other, or start something that the Chuunin instructers couldn't. Naruto wanted to bang his head on the wall because this was the worst part of the day. For some reason, and lee and naruto didn't know why, but both of them restrited themselves. The restricted themselves a lot. It was like fighting in a battle against petty thugs with you bare fists and they had pipes and other make shift weapons, except you had a full steel katana strapped to your back. The only reason yo udidn't want to use it is because you didn't want to stain it on worthless blood. Maybe, that was the turht behind their actions but it dind't realy matter because no one knew about their true level.

Today was different though. Since they had another person in the class, their would be an odd number of people, that meant extra sparring for some unlucky bastard. Naruto waited with Lee, his regular sparring partner. To his delight, not many people watched his battle since they were near the end of the line. Most of them were too busy nursing bruises or big heads to bother with some weirdos. But at times like these Naruto tried some crazy and wacky stuff, using new patterns he wanted to try with E.O.T.L but never ever using Ki to back it up. Lee on the other hand tried to figure out some strikes and counters for the Northern board strike.

Naruto sighed as he waited for his turn. ' wonder who hs going to spar the Uchiha.' Naruto thought with some mirth. If it was him, so help him Kami, Naruto would just parry the Uchiha till he got tired. Naruto wanted to save his strength for Lee, who would be more of a challenge and much more fun to fight.

"Next up," Iruka called, " Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruot twitched 'oh, I see now Kmai, you're hating on me too.' Naruto stood up and trudged his way towards the mound. Now everyone looked at the stage. Naruto wanted to palm his face right there. Dammit, the uchiha's fame was too large for everyone to ignore. It was that or his the Uchiha's personality demeanor was the personification of attention. Naruto stood on the right side ofhte mound and faced the Uchiha on the other. The Uchiha got in his ready stance and Naruto simply put his foot back and lazily raised his left arm. 'Should I end it quick or make a fool out of him.' naruto though about it and debated.

"Begin!" Iruka called ou.

Sasuke shot forward with a kunai in hand. Naruto sighed. He would end this quickly, no need to drag this stupid fight out. Sasuke was holding the Kunai in reverse grip as he charged forward and so he broug hit up and stabbed downwards at Naruto's shoulder.

Naruto reacted quickly. He brought up his right arm and grabbed the Uchiha's wrist so that he could stop the momentum. Naruto then bent down so he was in a low horse stance. Naruto brought his left hand up and punched the Uchiha in the stomach. The Uchiha, caught by suprise, lurched forward in pain. Naruot pulled his hand back and the nstruck again, this time striking the chext. Sasuke was pushed backwards, winded and sore. Naruto dind't stop his atttack there. Naruto took to stepfwoards and then brought up his right leg. He turned his hips slightly and then swung his leg in a horizontal posisiton. His roundhouse kick connected with the pretty boy's face, smashing him downwards. Sasuke groaned as he hit the floor and stayed down.

Naruto sighed and waked off the mound to get some rest.

Now the sad part about this was that Nrauto now had the attention of the students. It was bad enough hthat he was considered a weirdo and an outcast by others, but this was now making everyone interested in him.

This would continue on for the next few months. And finally, finally the graduation test arrived.

**

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**

Later

* * *

After the graduation test, Naruto and Lee decided to head out to Naruto's favorite restaurant to celbrae. And yes, they both passed. With flying colors? No, but they did pass nonetheless. Lee and Naruto decided to take this from a perecentatge point. Lee couldn't use chakra so he was going to fail the Ninjutsu portion of the test, Naruto couldnt form a bunshin so he was going to fail the Ninjutsu portion as well. Anyways narut oand Lee decided to pass in everything else. They passed in weapons, the written, the obstacle course, the sparring and pretty much eerything that the instructors threw at they weren't the only ones that passed. About 98 percent of the class pased and were happy celebrating. Sadly enough, Naruto didn't really bother to remember them... it wasn't because he didn't think they weren't worht his time but it was rather for his conscience. He would get to know them later if he had time, in the future. If he knew them knowthen he would probably lose some friends. Naruto wasn't as stupid or naïve to think that many classmate swould survive. Hell, Naruto didn't even think most of htme would last 10 months as a gennin and porbably drop out or get killed. Naruto didn't want ot riddle his conscience with annoing moments of grief and pain. He had already had enough of that.

But his graduation party at Ichiruka's wasw very good. They gave him an unlmited amount of ramen that day. Sad to say, Ichiruka had to close the next day because they were out ofstok and would need to shop for more.

**

* * *

**

The next day

* * *

Naruto wlaked downthe corridor of the Academy. It was his last doy here and then he would take his first step as a gennin. Naruto walked into the rom and sat down at his regular spot. He had a his regular, black jacket and cargo pants on. His Konoha headband hung proudly around his arm. Lee did the same thing with his, so when they found out they both laughed at the coincidence.

Naruto sighed as he waited for time to pass. He wondered what his team would be. Who is instructor would be. What he would learn. It was pretty invigorating and refreshing to learn about the walked in with a folder and looked around and started his speech. Naruto bbarely paid attention. I was the usual crfap about nationalism for their village. Patriotism, being a good nin. Sadly Iruka dind't put in the part where they had to uder, torture and due some pretty hardcore shit to the other nins but that was alriht they would learn later on, and naruto knew it.

Finally, Iruka started to call out the names. Naruto listened carefully. at one point during the team calling, Naruto snorted. It seemed that the Uchiha was paired up with the Hyuuga prodigy and some other chick that Naruto didn't know.

And the nit got to his team. "Would Uzumaki Naruto, Rock Lee and _ Tenten, please report to room 305 to meet up with your instructor Maito Gai."

Naruto smirked as he heard the team. Lee and him made the team fun, even if he was partnered up with one of the stuck up, stick up the ass uchiha or Hyuuga. But add in a Kunoichi that doesn't think about working on their looks but rather thinks about working on her skills... naruto couldn't have asked for anything better.

Naruto stood up and started to walk to the door. Lee followed him. Naruto waited at the door and looekd over to the last member of the team.

Naruto smiled and opened the door. His other two teammates waled through and naruto followed after them. They walked silently towards the 3rd floor. It wasn't an awkward silence but rather a happy and resonating silence. Finally, Naruto broke the silence. "So does anyone know about our sensei?"

Tenten scoffed and said in a mocking voice. "Hi Tenten, its nice to have you on our team Tenten..."

Naruto smirked at her. "I didn't know you talked to yourself Tenten."

The said girl, smacked Naruto on the back of the head. Lee laughed and said, "Well, at least we know whose gonna get married."

Naruto and Tenten and then stared at Lee. Lee just smirked back and then looked at the two with a knwoing eye. Tenten's and Naruto's eyebrows twitched and they both punched Lee. Lee luckily ducked and ran up the stairs to the Third floor. Naruto and Tenten yelled in unison as the chased after him "GET BACK HERE!"

The trio ran all the way to the meeting spot. Lee opened the door and dove in, escaping several kunais. Naruto and Tenten ran after him and then found themselves staring at a jounin waiting for them. Lee, who was on the ground, looked up and saw an imposing yet... 'friendly' figure.

The man was wearing a green leotard and was smiling so large that it seemed physically impossible for someone to smile that big. Lee stood up and Naruto and Tenten walked to either side of him.

The man infrong of him nodded. "My name is Maito Gai and you are now under my team."

Naruto and co. looked at each other and then turned back to Gai. Naruto scratched his head. "Uh, pleased to meet you Gai-sensei... my name is-"

"Uzumaki Naruto." Gai said immediately. Naruto blinked and nodded. Gai turned to the rest of the group and said "you are Rock Lee and _ Tenten."

Naruto blinked and there was a silence that overcame the fresh gennin. Tenten was the one to ask the question they were all thinking. "Uh... sensei … how do you know our names."

Gai smiled and gave a thumbs up. It was in a pose that made the gennin twitch. "YOSH! I STUDIED MY TEAM'S NAMES AND MADE SURE I KNOW AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE ABOUT YOU!"

The team nodded, dumbly. Gai continued on. "ALRIGHT THEN TEAM, FOLLOW ME!"

Gai left through the room's window and the gennin immediately charged after him. Though they were looking at each other quite confused. What was with this jounin?

They ran for a straight 20 minutes till the went onto a high building that was probably one of the tallest building in Konoha. But it was in the far back region near the east gate, and not many people went towards the east gate since there wasn't much to the east. Gai sat down on the rail and the tired gennin staggered towards the benches.

Lee spoke tiredly, "Sensei... why did we have to run across Konoha to reach here?"

Gai smiled. "Don't worry youthful students there is a reason why I wanted this place to be our meeting spot."

Naruto blinked. "Eh?"

Gai got into a serious posture and said in a solemn voice. "this was the spot where my gennin team met. And I … being the only one still alive... decided to come back here in honor of them."

There was a solemn silence amongst the group. They were now comprehending the truth behind the meeting spot, its meaning to Gai. This was not something you could brush off and say unnecessary but Gai was using this place as an inspiration point.

Gai turned to them and gave a more... calm smile. "Now then lets introduce ourselves. My name is Maito Gai. I like challenges, training, and Youthfulness, I dislike un-youthful activities and my hip rival's constant attitude. Finally My dream is to create a team of the Best Taijutsu style ever!"

Naruto smirked. He definetly liked Gai-sensei now. Naruto spoke up. "I'll go then. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I like Training, sparring, and Learning my style. I dislike people who are over arrogant, who are naïve and those who try to warp the truth. My dream... or dreams are to complete and master my Taijutsu style and become Hokage."

Gai's face lit up and he got into a good guy's thumbs up pose. The gennin were prepared for it. "ALRIGHT NARUTO-KUN I WIL DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS!"

Naruto blushed and scratched his head. "Uh... thank you sensei..."

Gai turned to Lee who saluted, for some reason. "MY Name is Rock Lee, I like sparring, learning about my style. My dislikes are people who look down on others, and my dreams are to complete and master my style and become a great nin even I can't use chakra."

Tenten blinked. And then asked. "You two are talking about styles... what do you mean."

Naruto scratched his head and smiled. "Our Taijutsu styles. We are both... uh in the middle of mastering two styles that we really like."

Lee caught on to Naruto's excuse and continued on. "Yes we have been practicing for quite a while now. And we can show you later!"

Tenten nodded and was cut off by Gai. "This is most excellent my youthful students. I shall see your styles later."

Naruto and Lee nodded. Tenten finally spoke. "Eto... I will go now..." Everyone turned to her and looked intently. Tenten blushed but continued anyways. "My name is _ Tenten. I like learning about weapons and using them. I dislike people who look down on Kunoichi and Kunoichi who don't take being a nin seriously. My dreams are to become an amazing weapons mistress."

Gai went on to rant about how they would all accomplish their goals and Gai would see it to the end or he would run to Iwa and back on his hands. The new gennins listened with some silent laughter. Thought was weird... it was pretty cool to have this kind of hyper teacher. Gai then turned to the students and said, in a serious tone which got the gennin to sit up. "I am going to show you something my sensei showed me."

Gai motioned for the gennin to stand up and stand next to him. They all stared out and saw the sun was starting to fall. "My sensei... brought my team here at the same time. He said that this place inspired him to never give up. I … came here after my team was killed during a mission." Gai's voice was not as jumpy or loud but more of a solid and sad tone. "I was considering killing myself..." the gennins eyes widened. "but I remembered that my sensei showed me this sunset and said that when sunset goes down. The Leaves will dim. But the sun will always come back up and new leaves will replace the new."

Gai nodded to himself. "I … understood the truth behind that saying. No matter how bleak it looks, there will be a new day, a new life. That is why I took a gennin team. So that I could help the new _leaves_ grow."

The gennin unknowingly smiled at Gai's story. Gai then continued on. "Anyways we still have one thing to do before we continue on."

The gennins looked at Gai who still looked solemn. "You must accomplish a youthful task and retrieve things for me.

Naruto blinked "what do you mean sensei?"

Gai smiled and held up a metal band that had the design of an Ox on it. "I have 3 other bands with the same thing on it. You need to find this jounin." Gai handed them a set of pictures all with the same person holding up different bands and continued speaking, "And fight him. And he will decide when you can get the bands. You must have one band each or you will fail."

Naruto took the pictures and Lee and Tenten looked over his shoulder. Naruto bit his lip. Were they ready to fight a jounin? Naruto looked up and said "how long do we have?"

Gai smiled. "Meet me here by tomorrow evening at 9:00"

Naruto nodded. "We can attack anytime."

Gai nodded. "you might want to start now."

Naruto, Lee, and Tenten disappeared.

**

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**

Later

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Naruto was sitting at a bench looking at a specific picture. 'We need to take out him huh... It depends... we can take him if we do it silently. Simply just do a trap lure and then surround.'

Naruto clenched his fists and looked up. He would need to use everything

**

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**

Jounin

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He was up late. Much later than usual. He had been told by Gai that the Gennin would probably come attack him at any moment. He of course was prepared. Instead of his usual sword, Hayate got a training sword. It was a dulled sword but lighter than usual so that it wouldn't hurt so much if he hit them. That didn't mean he would go easy on the brats. If they proved worthy, he would let them get the bracelet.

Hayate sensed two presences to the right. They were making themselves known. That meant the third one was going to steal it. Not bad... ok he'd play along.

Hayate turned around to see the boy Lee and the girl Tenten facing him. Hayate raised an eyebrow. "And what would two kids want in the middle of the night?"

Tenten held up a picture. It was a picture of him holding up a band with a Dragon on it. "We need this band."

Hayate smiled and held up tree bands band "I know."

Tenten reached into her bag for Kunais. The team had already planned ahead... they wouldn't make a mistake. Lee charged forward at Hayate. Hayate raised an eyebrow but nonetheless drew his sword. Suddenly, Kunai's flew all around Lee and towards Hayate. Hayate stayed still ready to block but none of them were directed at him. 'what the …' Then he saw a glimmer in the moonlight. The Kunai's had string on them. 'Shit... restriction of movement... that means that they trust this kid to...' Hayate moved forward slashing at the boy's arm. Lee ducked under it and did a palm strike forward. Haayte was simply going to parry it with his hand but then he felt a heavy chill. It was the kind of chill that screamed danger. Hayate shot backwards away from the hand. 'Shit I can't move back because of ht string. Then I'll just have to.'

Hayate charged chakra into his sword. There was something special about this training sword. He had received it from his own sensei who was a samurai of the land of Iron. Hayate swung forward, lancing chakra from the tip of the sword. Lee eyes widened as he saw the charka spike. He stopped in his tracks when the chakra shot upwards, slicing the wires. Lee turned back to Hayate to see him jump up and away from the trap. Lee gritted his teeth and hopped that Naruto was ready.

Hayate moved upwards ready to counter if any of them tried to attack him. 'now then-'

Hayate felt the wind move behind him... which told you something if there was no breeze. Hayate spun around and saw a familiar blond fly at him. He was going at a straight charge. 'now then why would he do that.' Hayate raised his sword forward as he waited for the charge. He looked at Naruto's face... many people didn't know how to control their facial features when they fought. He saw Naruto's face change from focus to a confident smirk. Hayate was immediately on guard. 'A trap... or is he a distraction.'

Hayate looked to his right and left quickly to check for any traps but there was none... so what was going to- Hayate looked in front of him and felt a jolt. The kid had somehow closed the distance... in mid air!

Hayate swiped at him but Naruto twisted his body and then sent a kick to Hayate's ribs. Hayate moved his left arm to parry when suddenly he felt a jolt in his arm making it numb. 'Damn was that Thunder manipulation?'

Hayate flipped over and landed on the ground ready to defend himself. But his left arm was barely responding. Hayate felt a presence behind him and swung behind him adding chakra to his sword. He turned to see Tenten trying to sneak up and grab the band. If Hayate hadn't been so threatened by the sudden skill level he would have consciously let them grab it. But with the poised double trap and the strike from Naruto, Hayate's reflexes were acting on their own. He swung too hard. Tenten's eyes widened as she saw the sword come at her.

Naruto eyes widened as he saw the sword wing. 'Dammit... thats gonna-'

Suddenly a figure came in between Tenten and Hayate.

Lee gathered Ki in his hand and grabbed the sword. He circulated the chakra. Sadly since the metal didn't exactly have charka veins, Lee did the next thing to stop the blade, he melted it.

Hayate widened as he saw his blade heat up and burn, but one thing good was that it stopped. He jumped back and examined his blade. It was seared by chakra over dosage, similar to pooling up chakra and concentrating it . The blade couldn't handle the chakra concentration and melted under the pressure. Hayate turned to them and saw that the girl was a bit shaken by the close encounter but still handling herself. Lee on the other hand never took his eyes off Hayate. Hayate smiled, this one would go far.

Lee then got out of his stance and smiled. "It's over"

Hayate raised an eyebrow and then looked down. The bands were missing. "What happened?" He said with confusion. When did they get it.

"Over here, Hayate-san." Hayate turned and saw Naruto holding up the bands. Hayate laughed and shook his head. 'they got me'

Hayate nodded. "You did well no... exceptional. You all have great potential don't waste it.."

The gennins blushed at the compliment. Hayate then cleared his throat and pointed to the bands. "Gai told me that the bands were to be given to each one of you. The dragon would go to Tenten." Tenten grabbed the dragon band from Lee and wrapped it around her wrist. It glinted in the moonlight. Hayate turned to Lee. "The Phoenix goes to Lee." Naruto tossed the band to Lee, who strapped it around his wrist also. Naruto looked at the only band left. "A Tiger huh?"

Hayate nodded. "Well, its late so see you guys later."

The gennins nodded. "Thank you." They said in unison.

Hayate jumped away.

The gennins looked at each other and back at their bands ... Naruto smiled. "Well... this is cool. I guess we're a team."

Tenten nodded. "yeah... um... i'll see you guys tomorrow then?"

Naruto nodded and left for home. All the while looking at his band.

**

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**

Hayate

* * *

Hayate watched the gennin leave and smiled. Yea, Gai certainly picked a talented group.

Hayate felt a familiar presence behind him and turned towards it. It was his girl... or well Yugao. She smiled at him, she was off duty so she didn't have her Anbu gear on. Hayate smiled back and said, "Gai's gennin are pretty sharp. They got me."

Yugao's eyebrow raised. "OH, the great Swordsman lost?"

Hayate chuckled. "Nah, but they are definetly worth watching."

Yugao watched the final two gennin leave. Maybe... she should probably check out their level.. maybe they could be useful... in Anbu.

**

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**

And there we go I hope you guys like it!


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